The Defenders news continues to roll in with an interview with actor Mike Colter about the upcoming Marvel series. He discusses Luke Cage's role in the story and also the character's friendship with Danny Rand, a.k.a. Iron Fist. He begins by telling EW:

“It’s safe to say Cage is not going to spend the entire season of The Defenders behind bars. He’s been able to come clean and deal with his past… The difficulty with Cage [in the first season] is that he has this secret, he has this thing that he’s been trying to run away from and deal with, and that’s a big burden to bear. That weighs on you, that changes who you are as a person. Now that that’s out of the way, I think we can give him a different approach to life.”

He goes on to reveal that Cage will be acting as “the conciliator” for the group, explaining, “I’m the guy, the wisdom. If you want to make sure something works, run it up the flagpole.”

Showrunner Marco Ramirez adds, “Luke is someone who’s, in a very mature way, compartmentalized his life.”

Since Cage is taking on a more mature role in the group, he's looking at taking Finn Jones' Danny Rand under his wing and will be kind of a mentor to the character. When talking about their relationship, Colter says:

“He’s a young guy. There’s an exuberance that Iron Fist comes with that Luke Cage wants to temper a bit. It can’t help but have a wisdom-versus-youth quality… Danny comes out like a bull in a china shop in some ways, and I think Luke has seen the world and knows certain things. It’s a cool combination that’ll work out.”

I'm looking forward to seeing the friendship between these two characters grow. There's no doubt that their relationship dynamic in the series was inspired by the Heroes for Hire comic book series. Colter goes on to say:

“We definitely want to pay homage to the fanboys, but we want to make it make sense in this time period.”

Ramirez also made sure to remind us that Luke Cage is really the only member of the team who is "openly walking around as a hero," and “there’s a lot of pressure that comes with that.”

We'll make sure to keep you updated as the interviews with The Defenders actors continue to roll in. Marvel’s The Defenders arrives on Netflix this summer. I'm hoping that we get to see a trailer for this series soon! 

This is really cool. Abhishek Singh has created a robot named Peeqo that responds to voice command using gifs, and he's open-sourced the design so anyone who wants to can build their own version.

I work from home, and anyone out there who does that will tell you that it's incredibly easy to get sidetracked and distracted from the task at hand. Looks like I might need to build my own Peeqo to help stay focused on those days when distractions become overpowering.

Via: The Awesomer

Charlie Cox is once again diving into Marvel Comics for research on his upcoming role in Marvel's Netflix series The Defenders. According to EW, no one at Marvel bothered to mention to Cox that The Defenders of the comics have never had a lineup identical to the team that will be appearing in the series...

“I actually went and purchased an issue,” he recalls. “And then when I realized [Daredevil wasn’t in it], I went… ‘Huh.'”

So instead of just winging it, Cox is now jumping into other comics for inspiration and interactions Daredevil has with the heroes he will be featured with, and just other heroes in general. He seems particularly fond of Daredevil's role in the Civil War storyline...

“I’ve taken note of the moments in the Daredevil comics where new characters are coming in and sharing panels with Daredevil, and in terms of how Matt might operate in a team-up scenario, I read Civil War. He plays a relatively big part in the comics — I mean, he’s kind of in the background for most of it, but the crux of the plan hinges on him. And so, I’m just looking for little nuggets, for stuff I can use and any clues into how I can play him.” 

Out of everything he's read, weirdly enough, the thing Cox most wants Matt Murdock to do is eat a hamburger with Luke Cage...

“One of my favorite images is from a Daredevil issue with Luke Cage and Daredevil on a rooftop eating cheeseburgers...I love that.”

Maybe Cox, who is typically all business in the costume, wouldn't mind a laughable moment where Daredevil is just relaxing! I don't know if those type of lighthearted moments happen in the Netflix universe, and I can't think of an instance when they have thus far, but who knows? I wouldn't be opposed to something goofy like that, would you? 

After 3 years, Microsoft is finally making moves away from Kinect-based functionality on the dashboard. In their latest news update, Xbox Platform Engineer Mike Ybarra says the Xbox One dashboards...read more on GameTyrant

Permalink

Stan Lee has been an institution in American comics for longer than just about anyone else. He's in his 90s now, so he won't be hitting the convention circuit as hard as he used to, but he's a natural born creator, and I don't think he's slowing down on that front any time soon. (Plus, it seems all but certain that he'll continue to appear in cameos in Marvel movies for as long as he lives.) I know he has his detractors, and his specific role in the creation of some of Marvel's greatest heroes is probably a bit shakier than he'd like (you've gotta props to Jack Kirby where they're due), but there's no denying Lee's impact on the comics industry and how it's spread to mainstream pop culture in a huge way over the past seventeen years.

Marvel has released a video of Lee commemorating his 75th anniversary (!) with the company, and it features the figurehead fondly reflecting on getting a job with them for the first time.

If you get a chance, I'd highly recommend reading Vulture's profile of Lee from last year. It's a great piece, and I learned a good amount from it.

The new Black Panther film will feature T'Challa's time in America in the 1990s. In the comics, Prince T'Challa was educated in America and went under the alias Luke Charles in his time there. CBM writes that Marvel has obtained permission from AC Transit public transportation agency in Oakland, California to use their '90s logo in a flashback for the film. This essentially means T'Challa is getting on a bus at some point in this film!

While it's not exactly groundbreaking news that the first film on this hero will be exploring his origins, it's nice to know we will see a couple different locales in the film! I'm very curious about just how much of America we will see in this film, and I'm also very interested to see the world of Wakanda fully fleshed out in the MCU. 

Black Panther is scheduled to be in theaters February 16th, 2018. 

As much as the writers of Deadpool would love to just focus on the events of the sequel and how they play into the story of Deadpool, they also know that fans are wanting and hoping for an X-Force film. For that reason, they tell Collider they are taking steps in writing the script to ensure that the film properly sets up the future franchise. Writer Rhett Reese is not at all worried about tying in the two or the fans' reactions to it...

"There is a responsibility we have to the X-Force universe, and I do think we will not disappoint the fans going into Deadpool 2 and then setting up X-Force and beyond...Its purpose is not to set up X-Force. It will likely set up X-Force, but the drive of the movie won’t be our eyes on Movie 3."

Writer Paul Wernick echoes Reese's thoughts and says they're being very conscientious about making sure the "tail doesn't wag the dog"...

"We never want to let the tail wag the dog. We want to tell the best Deadpool story we can. But I do think we have a responsibility to think about a larger universe in the way that Marvel does and start to put pieces in place. Some of these movies feel overstuffed and almost choking with the need to set up eighteen different things that pay off down the road, and we want to avoid that responsibility to the extent that it hurts us. We want to hint at things, we want to plan some characters, and we want to make some nods, but we’re very, very cognizant about making sure that Deadpool is above all a Deadpool movie."

I'm not at all worried about the setup. Hell, the last film setup the sequel by Deadpool recreating a scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off and just telling us a sequel was happening. There are a lot of advantages to having a main character who can break the fourth wall and do stuff like that! Right now the only thing I'm worried about is whether or not Deadpool 2 can top the original! It has a high bar to clear!

The LEGO Batman Movie comes out in just under a month, so steel yourselves for the inevitable marketing onslaught that's about to happen. But it won't only be a never-ending stream of TV spots and cheesy corporate tie-in commercials — the team at LEGO (fine, I guess that's a corporate tie-in) has built a life-sized version of the film's Batmobile (via io9).

This beast contains more than 340,000 LEGO pieces, and sits at an impressive 17 feet in length. Here are the official stats:

• It’s 83 inches (6.92 feet) high, 204 inches (17 feet) long and 111 inches (9.25 feet) wide.
• Total weight is 1,695.5 pounds. Each tire is just over 100 pounds.
• The interior frame is made from more than 86 feet of square tube aluminum and weighs 282.5 pounds.
• Total number of LEGO® bricks used to build the Batmobile: 344,187
• Total number of LEGO® colors used: 17
• The LEGO® Batmobile took 222 hours to design and 1,833 hours to build.

You can visit Chevy's website to see a quick timelapse video of this monster being put together.

And with a protagonist this goofy, even the traditional corporate tie-in commercials aren't THAT bad:

The LEGO Batman Movie arrives in theaters on February 10, 2017.

A new video has surfaced for Super Mario Odyssey that gives us a better look at Mario's move set! You'll only see about a minute and fifteen seconds of new footage...read more on GameTyrant

Permalink

John Wick: Chapter 2 arrives next month, and Lionsgate recently released a video that looks back at some of the intense action of the 2014 original. It's a supercut with gunshots timed to the beats of the Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, and though it may not be as informative as this kill count supercut, it definitely has it beat in the style department. Check it out below, and get a small tease of the Matrix reunion that's going to happen in John Wick: Chapter 2 with a quick clip featuring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne.

John Wick: Chapter 2 arrives in theaters on February 10, 2017.

I still have yet to make the pilgrimage to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood...BUT I WANT TO SO BADLY! This video didn't quell that urge, and I hope if you've been there before you knew all these cool factoids when you were there, because you'll want to go back if you didn't! I'm shocked by how many actual props from the film are in the area! I really need to go someday. 

Check out the video below!

I'm a big fan of the Jeepers Creepers horror franchise. The first two films were great, and a third has been in development for years.  It was supposed to go into production last year, but it ended up being shut down for unknown reasons. 

Bloody-Disgusting is now reporting that Jeepers Creepers 3 is in pre-production and is now set to shoot in Louisiana instead of Vancouver, Canada, which is where it was originally supposed to shoot. The site also confirms that Victor Salva is still set to direct the film, which is scheduled to begin filming next month. Here are some story details that were released:

Jeepers Creepers 3 will show events on the last day of the Creeper’s twenty-three day feeding frenzy, as the skeptical Sergent Tubbs teams up with a task force hellbent on destroying the Creeper for good. The Creeper fights back in gory glory as its enemies grow closer than ever before to learning the secret of its dark origins.

It's also said that the Creeper’s van, with the “BEATNGU” license plate, is going to play a major role in the story, which is cool. I always loved that rusty old tricked-out truck! 

Jonathan Breck is set to reprise his role as The Creeper in the film and Brandon Smith will be playing Sergeant Davis Tubbs. Francis Ford Coppola is also attached as a producer on the film. As a fan of the franchise, I can't wait to see how this third installment in the series turns out! 

In a recent episode of Tested, Adam Savage shows off an incredibly cool board game based on Jim Henson's classic '80s film Labyrinth. It's being created by Weta Workshop sculptor Johnny Fraser-Allen, who is currently working on the miniatures. The detail on this thing is absolutely amazing!

On a visit to effects studio Weta Workshop, Adam Savage meets and chats with artists who bring their own obsessions and passion projects to work. Sculptor Johnny Fraser-Allen, who is working on miniatures for Jim Henson's Labyrinth board game, shares with Adam his own intricate maze miniature, which will end up being the size of an entire room!

This thing is going to end up being huge! It will be the size of an entire room!? Looks like I'll have to buy a house with an extra room if I want to own one of these things... which I do!

"The lines are redrawn" in the latest trailer for Injustice 2. As if we didn't know it already, the storyline of the new game will somehow pit heroes and villains alike against each other...read more on GameTyrant

Permalink

We're still not sure what is going on with the next installment of the James Bond franchise. We know that Sam Mendes will not be coming back to direct and that Daniel Craig has been back and forth on whether or not he wants to reprise the role of 007. The studio wants to keep Craig around if he's up for another one, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens with that. 

As for bringing on a new director to take on the franchise, the only logical choice is Christopher Nolan. I've been wanting to see him direct a James Bond film for years and the producers of the movie should at least ask him to see if he's up for it. Even Tom Hardy, who has starred in many of Nolan's films, wants to see him direct Bond! 

While talking with The Daily Beast, Hardy was asked if he would like to take on the role of 007 in future installments, and he said: 

"You know, there’s a saying amongst us in the fraternity of acting, and in the fellowship of my peer group, that if you talk about it you’re automatically out of the race. So I can’t possibly comment on that one! If I mention it, it’s gone. But Chris Nolan, what a fantastic director for a Bond movie. Because Daniel is so good, and what [Sam] Mendes and Barbara [Broccoli] have done has been so impressive, that it would be a very hard re-imagination to follow after. I wonder what the next installment of that franchise would become, and I think when you mention someone like Christopher Nolan, that’s a very powerful figure to bring into that world who could bring something new and create something profound…again."

If Nolan did end up taking on the challenge of a Bond film, I'm sure that he would bring Hardy on board to take on the iconic role. I think Hardy would make a fantastic Bond, so you wouldn't hear me complain if this talented team-up actually happened for a Bond movie. Hardy has got the look and the attitude and he proved it with the character he played in Inception. 

Yesterday a few interviews from the cast and crew of Marvel's The Defenders surfaced in which the actors talked about their characters and their relationships with each other. You can read through all of those interviews here if you missed them yesterday. 

Netflix has since released a couple new photos from the series for fans to check out. They include Iron Fist (Finn Jones) throwing a guy in a gas mask against a wall and Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) walking down a street with her best friend, Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor). 

With this big marketing push that is currently underway for the series, Marvel and Netflix have got to be planning to release a new trailer for it soon. Just for the hell of it, I included the first teaser trailer that premiered at Comic-Con below to set the mood for what's to come. 

The series also stars Charlie Cox as Daredevil, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, Elden Henson will be reprising as Foggy Nelson, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Eka Darville as Malcolm, Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth, Simone Missick as Misty Knight, Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker, Scott Glenn as Stick, Sigourney Weaver as the villain, and Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple. 

I know we've already seen some trailers and images for John Wick: Chapter 2, but we've got another collection of photos showing off some badass shots from the film., specifically that shot above with Keanu Reeves standing in the background waiting for the right moment to strike and take down the thug in the foreground.

There's also high-res shot from that mirror room scene, which I'm excited about seeing. Remember, this is a homage to Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. Reeves previously said:

"It’s his homage to Bruce Lee at the end of Enter The Dragon. The whole installation is a maze of mirrors where guys can pop out and disappear. It’s very cool and a lot of fun to fight in."

I'm sure director Chad Stahelski planned out something awesome for this scene and I can't wait to see how exactly that plays out. Hell, I'm excited for the whole damn movie! 

The sequel also stars Lance Reddick, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, Bridget Moynahan, Common, Laurence Fishburne, Peter Stormare, Riccardo Scamarcio, Peter Serafinowicz, and Ruby Rose.

Keanu Reeves returns in the sequel to the 2014 hit as legendary hitman John Wick who is forced to back out of retirement by a former associate plotting to seize control of a shadowy international assassins’ guild. Bound by a blood oath to help him, John travels to Rome where he squares off against some of the world’s deadliest killers.

John Wick: Chapter 2 opens in theaters February 10th, 2017.

While there's a very high probability that four people collectively decided to leak the Deadpool test footage, there's also a small chance Russian President Vladimir Putin was involved! Deadline spoke to the writers about the film's award chances, the sequel, and of course, the infamous leak that got it all rolling. We've all heard the story of "the leak" that finally got footage of Deadpool in front of the public, but writer Paul Wernick thinks he's narrowed down who did it...

"We’ve always wondered who leaked that test footage. There’s really been only four suspects—it’s been myself, Rhett, Ryan [Reynolds], and [director] Tim [Miller], but a new suspect has emerged, and we’re gonna give you the scoop on this. It’s Putin, actually; Vladimir Putin leaked the test footage for Deadpool."

I wouldn't peg Putin as a big Deadpool fan, but then again I'm not sure many people expected the film to be the $735 million dollar success that it was, and yet the writers laugh that a film so successful is viewed an "underdog" in the award season for films...

"How rare is it that a movie that made $783 million is kind of the underdog of the award season? [Laughs] It’s rare that a movie like this, that’s generally considered a popcorn type movie, gets recognized among such serious, great fare. So, it’s both surprising and exciting, and unexpected, and yet, so gratifying"

As far as the update on the sequel, things are looking very positive! The team is still planning on including Cable and shooting sometime this year...

"It’ll be populated with a lot of characters, but it is still Deadpool’s movie, this next one. We’re pushing forward very hard. I think by every account we will shoot it this year, and we’re on our multiple draft now. It’s taken different twists and turns, but it’s really coalescing, and we’re very, very excited. We’re a little nervous, because now we feel like we have to live up to the first movie, but at the same time, we have to have faith, and we have an extreme passion still, and as long as we have passion still, and it’s not a mercenary, venal play, which we don’t think this is, I think we’ll be in good shape."

The only bad news? There's no plan to bring Deadpool into the current fold of X-Men films just yet as far as the writing team knows, but don't rule it out! 

Adam Savage teams up with GE to witness something that was once believed to be impossible. These guys are fighting fire with fire, but not in the way you'd think! These engineers are then sending sound recordings of fire through a tube with enough force to extinguish the fire! Kind of sounds like a technicality to me as the sound waves are essentially forcing air to blow out the candle, but it's still pretty cool to watch nonetheless. Check it out below! 

Updated with new photo below:

Thanks to Entertainment Weekly, we have our first photo of Marvel's The Defenders team assembled together. There's also a behind-the-scenes video of the photo shoot that you can watch below that includes interviews with Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Mike Colter (Luke Cage), and Finn Jones (Danny Rand, a.k.a. Iron Fist). 

In an interview with The Defenders showrunner Marco Ramirez, he talked about the characters coming together for this story explaining:

“Every one of them is following their own trail of bread crumbs, trying to unpack a mystery in New York. We wanted them all caught off guard. Once they’re in that room together, it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, s—, who are you?'”

Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb added:

“The Defenders didn’t have a ‘D’ on their belt buckles and a Defenders Tower. We agreed from the very beginning that these folks could at the very end go, ‘I never want to see your face again.'”

I love that. It'd be a shame if they didn't come together again, but I love that attitude. The Defendersis set to arrive sometime in 2017, and they'll face off against none other than Sigourney Weaver as the villain. To read everything we know about the limited series, click here.